18.7.13

SNOOKER'S COMING HOME

Following
lengthy negotiations, World Snooker today announced a new ranking event in
India, to be staged from October 14-18.

This
will be the first ranking tournament held in India, where snooker was invented
by British army officers in 1875.

Legend
has it that British officers at the Ooty club in Jubbulpore, taking shelter
during the rainy season, conceived the game of snooker by mucking about with
existing cue sports.

Neville
Chamberlain (no relation to the prime minister of the same name) has been
credited with forming the rules. He went on to become a colonel but at the time
was only 19.

A
‘snooker’ was in fact an insult used by seniors officers towards their
underlings, which makes you wonder what else the game could have been called.

India
is a huge market. For many years, billiards has been popular on the
subcontinent and there have also been a few invitation snooker tournaments over
the years.

The
country has two promising professionals in Pankaj Advani and Aditya Mehta,
though they will have to qualify.

There
will be six wildcards. In this instance – trying to establish a new tournament
in a new market – the use of wildcards can be justified. It follows the
precedent of every other new territory.

The
first prize is £50,000 and 64 players will take part in the final stages. The
pre-qualifying round will be in Doncaster from August 11-12.

WPBSA
chairman Jason Ferguson, who is to air miles what Joe Davis was to world
titles, said: “I’ve been in Delhi
this week to finalise the agreement for the event and I’ve witnessed first hand
the enthusiasm for snooker in India. The people really love our game and I’ve
no doubt that this event will be a great success and provide a basis for snooker's
growth in India.”

Let’s hope enough top players recognise the
importance of supporting a new event in a new market, which certainly has the potential
to grow in the years to come.

What India has over most of the circuit’s other non-British
calling points is a cue sports heritage.

Let's hope the gin wallah doesn't spill anything over the players jodhpurs.Tales of the Raj await & also practice facilities are available at the Bengal Lancers Railway club and also the Bombay Bicycle Club.

So if there are 6 wildcards available and 2 promising Indian pros then why make them qualify? Surely a judicious use of the wildcards would be raising local interest by having these 2 in the main draw?

They don't even need wildcards, they could just hold over their matches to the venue now you only need to win one match to qualify. They may well still do that, it would be remarkably shortsighted not to.

If they were to do this Advani and Mehta wouldn't be eligible for ranking points and they are much needed by these two at the moment. I'm sure they would rather roll the dice on qualifying than have a wildcard and receive nothing.

6 Wildcards in this case is a good decision, they will probably all lose anyway but its good to drum up interest

Shame they cannot hold the matches over but this is unfair on the opponent who could travel to india and receive no prize money.

Shame they cannot hold the matches over but this is unfair on the opponent who could travel to india and receive no prize money.

WSA should foot the travel expenses for Advani, Mehta and their opponents. You are talking less than 10k for all four players. Only morons wouldn't utilise the best two Indian players on the tour in launching a new event in their country.